•  10
    The revised International Code of Medical Ethics: responses to some important questions
    with Ramin W. Parsa-Parsi and Urban Wiesing
    Journal of Medical Ethics 50 (3): 179-180. 2024.
    We thank our commentators for their thoughtful responses to our paper 1 covering among other issues the relationships of ethics law and professional codes, the tensions between ethical universalism and cultural relativism and the phenomenon of moral judgement required when ethical norms conflict, including the norms of patient care versus obligations to others both now and in the future. Although the comments deserve more extensive discussion, in what follows we respond briefly to specific aspec…Read more
  •  9
    The revised International Code of Medical Ethics: an exercise in international professional ethical self-regulation
    with Ramin W. Parsa-Parsi and Urban Wiesing
    Journal of Medical Ethics 50 (3): 163-168. 2024.
    The World Medical Association (WMA), the global representation of the medical profession, first adopted the International Code of Medical Ethics (ICoME) in 1949 to outline the professional duties of physicians to patients, other physicians and health professionals, themselves and society as a whole. The ICoME recently underwent a major 4-year revision process, culminating in its unanimous adoption by the WMA General Assembly in October 2022 in Berlin. This article describes and discusses the ICo…Read more
  •  5
    Confidentiality
    with Daniel K. Sokol
    In Helga Kuhse & Peter Singer (eds.), A Companion to Bioethics, Wiley‐blackwell. 2009.
    This chapter contains sections titled: References.
  • Principlism, virtuism, and the spirit of oneness
    In Alastair V. Campbell, Voo Teck Chuan, Richard Huxtable & N. S. Peart (eds.), Healthcare ethics, law and professionalism: essays on the works of Alastair V. Campbell, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. 2018.
  •  12
    In this journal, Dr Daniel Daly, an American bioethicist, uses a principlist approach (respect for autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice) to argue that intravenous opiate users should not be denied repeat heart valve replacements if these are medically indicated, ‘unless the valve replacement significantly violates another’s autonomy or one or more of the three remaining principles’.1 In brief outline, the paper seeks to use a widely accepted ethical theory—‘principlism’ as develope…Read more
  •  7
    Raising the profile of fairness and justice in medical practice and policy
    Journal of Medical Ethics 46 (12): 789-790. 2020.
    Justice, one of the four Beauchamp and Childress prima facie basic principles of biomedical ethics, is explored in two excellent papers in the current issue of the journal. The papers stem from a British Medical Association essay competition on justice and fairness in medical practice and policy. Although the competition was open to all comers, of the 235 entries both the winning paper by Alistair Wardrope1 and the highly commended runner-up by Zoe Fritz and Caitríona Cox2 were written by practi…Read more
  •  24
    White coat ceremonies for new medical students
    Journal of Medical Ethics 26 (2): 83-84. 2000.
  •  3
    Welcome to Medical Humanities--and why
    Journal of Medical Ethics 26 (3): 155-156. 2000.
  •  33
    Imposed separation of conjoined twins-- moral hubris by the English courts?
    Journal of Medical Ethics 27 (1): 3-4. 2001.
    Late last year the English Court of Appeal confirmed a lower court's ruling that doctors could impose an operation to separate recently born conjoined twins, overriding the refusal of consent of their parents. The doctors believed the operation would probably save one of the babies at the cost of killing the other, while not operating would highly probably be followed by the death of both twins within months of their birth. The parents, said to be devout Roman Catholics, believed that it was abs…Read more
  •  241
    Knowledge of the ethical and legal basis of medicine is as essential to clinical practice as an understanding of basic medical sciences. In the UK, the General Medical Council requires that medical graduates behave according to ethical and legal principles and must know about and comply with the GMC’s ethical guidance and standards. We suggest that these standards can only be achieved when the teaching and learning of medical ethics, law and professionalism are fundamental to, and thoroughly int…Read more
  •  32
    In this issue of the journal “Lee Elder”,1 a pseudonymous dissident Jehovah's Witness , previously an Elder of that faith and still a JW, joins the indefatigable Dr Muramoto2–5 in arguing that even by their own religious beliefs based on biblical scriptures JWs are not required to refuse potentially life-saving blood transfusions. Just as the “official” JW hierarchy has accepted that biblical scriptures do not forbid the transfusion or injection of blood fractions so too JW theology logically ca…Read more
  •  25
    Toleration and Healthcare Ethics
    Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 14 (1): 100-106. 2005.
    edited by Tuija Takala and Matti Häyry, welcomes contributions on the conceptual and theoretical dimensions of bioethics
  •  93
    It is hypothesised and argued that “the four principles of medical ethics” can explain and justify, alone or in combination, all the substantive and universalisable claims of medical ethics and probably of ethics more generally. A request is renewed for falsification of this hypothesis showing reason to reject any one of the principles or to require any additional principle(s) that can’t be explained by one or some combination of the four principles. This approach is argued to be compatible with…Read more
  •  22
    'Wrongful life' claims
    Journal of Medical Ethics 24 (6): 363-364. 1998.
  •  13
    Commentary
    Journal of Medical Ethics 28 (1): 7-9. 2002.
    IN DEFENCE OF MEDICAL COMMITMENT CEREMONIESI confess to an overwhelming astonishment on first reading my friend Bob Veatch's attack on white coat ceremonies. Surely, I had thought, everyone who considered the issue would want doctors to commit themselves to the basic moral goals of medicine and especially that ancient Hippocratic goal of working to benefit the health of their/our patients, and only risking or doing harm with the intention and likely outcome of producing their net health benefit?…Read more
  •  2
    Why Won't They Talk to me?
    Journal of Medical Ethics 12 (3): 159-159. 1986.
  •  13
    Include medical ethics in the Research Excellence Framework
    with W. M. Kong, B. Vernon, K. Boyd, B. Farsides, and G. Stirrat
    The Research Excellence Framework of the Higher Education Funding Council for England is taking place in 2013, its three key elements being outputs, impact, and “quality of the research environment”. Impact will be assessed using case studies that “may include any social, economic or cultural impact or benefit beyond academia that has taken place during the assessment period.”1 Medical ethics in the UK still does not have its own cognate assessment panel—for example, bioethics or applied ethics—…Read more
  •  19
    Four scenarios
    Journal of Medical Ethics 29 (5): 267-268. 2003.
    Promoting respect for the four principles remains of great practical importance in ordinary medicineThe following are four “scenarios” with brief outlines of how Raanan Gillon has analysed them using the “four principles” approach. These are the four cases that the commentators were asked to analyse.Professor Gillon has for many years advocated the use of the Beauchamp and Childress four principles approach as a widely and interculturally acceptable method for medical ethics analysis . At presen…Read more
  •  17
  •  29
    When four principles are too many: a commentary
    Journal of Medical Ethics 38 (4): 197-198. 2012.
    This commentary briefly argues that the four prima facie principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for autonomy and justice enable a clinician (and anybody else) to make ethical sense of the author's proposed reliance on professional guidance and rules, on law, on professional integrity and on best interests, and to subject them all to ethical analysis and criticism based on widely acceptable basic prima facie moral obligations; and also to confront new situations in the light of those…Read more
  •  17
    What is it to do good medical ethics? A kaleidoscope of views
    with Roger Higgs
    Journal of Medical Ethics 41 (1): 1-4. 2015.
  • What is medical ethics' business
    Advances in Bioethics 4 31-50. 1998.
  •  44
    This paper argues that Charlie Gard’s parents should have been the decision-makers about their son’s best interests and that determination of Charlie’s best interests depended on a moral decision about which horn of a profound moral dilemma to choose. Charlie’s parents chose one horn of that moral dilemma and the courts, like Charlie Gard’s doctors, chose the other horn. Contrary to the first UK court’s assertion, supported by all the higher courts that considered it, that its judgement was ‘obj…Read more
  •  13
    This paper, based on a talk given at a conference on compassion in health care held at the Royal Society of Medicine in November 2012, argues that the ethical requirement for humanity in health care is obvious and needs little ethical analysis – the problem is to get the results of ethical reflection, ordinary humanity and everyday common sense, into everyday behaviour. The author offers some suggestions that might help to achieve this aim and bring back the human face of health and social care.…Read more
  •  1
    Surgical intervention in dementia
    Journal of Medical Ethics 13 (4): 171-172. 1987.